


Rock On

by darlingDesires



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, Stuff, bandstuck, fanboystuck, fangirlstuck, fanstuck - Freeform, yee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-04-24 05:55:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 13,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4907920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingDesires/pseuds/darlingDesires
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is JOHN EGBERT, and you are absolutely OBSESSED with a new rock band, DEXTERITY BLISS. You know everything there is to know about them. KARKAT VANTAS, the DRUMMER. TEREZI PYROPE, the BASSIST. KURLOS MAKARA, the BACKUP GUITARIST. And... DAVE STRIDER, the LEAD GUITARIST/SINGER.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Raffle Time!

**Author's Note:**

> As with all my books, possible chapter triggers will be listed at the beginning of the chapter.

Your name is John Egbert, and you are absolutely obsessed with a new rock band, Dexterity Bliss. Dexterity Bliss, Dexterity Bliss... Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? You thought so. You know everything there is to know about them.

The Drummer: Karkat Vantas. Male. 17. Midnight black hair. Has a slight temper. Loves to hit things with sticks. Secretly has a soft spot for animals and small children.

The Bassist: Terezi Pyrope. Female. 19. Ginger hair. Loves the colour red. Blind. Plays the best bass line you've ever heard, despite being blind.

The Lead Guitarist/Singer: Dave Strider. Male. 17. Bleached blonde hair. Always wears shades. Rarely shows emotion, except through the song.

Backup Guitarist: Kurloz Makara. Male. 20. Oldest of the four. Mute. Loves skeletons. Also plays piano, but only on his free time.

They don't need anyone else... they rock on their own. They had a slowly and steadily growing fanbase.

You were literally the biggest fan... You had several posters up in your room, and whenever one of their songs would play on the radio, you would blast the radio and rock out. You knew every one of their songs by heart. Several different shirts were lined up in your closer- Mostly shirts for Dexterity Bliss, but you had one or two from previous interests, such as Ghostbusters or Nicholas Cage.

You plugged your headphones in and went to your music on your laptop, to play their latest song while you read fanfiction about Karkat and Terezi. They had dated in the past... but they said it was over. Does that stop you and the rest of the fandom from shipping them? Hell no. Hell fucking no.

You smiled to yourself slightly as you continued reading. In the comments, someone had sent a link to something involving Dexterity Bliss. You, like the dumb teenager you are, clicked on the link. A raffle was going on on the official website for the band.

"Enter the raffle for a chance to tour with Dexterity Bliss for a full week, including places like New York and Los Angeles." You mumbled out loud to yourself. A wide grin began to spread across your face. You grabbed your phone and paused the music for a brief, painful moment to ask your dad for a raffle ticket.

"Do you know how many other people are entering? There's a very small chance you'll win."

"Pleeeeeeeease?" You put on your best puppy dog face and your dad sighed, giving in. You squealed in glee as he turned on his laptop, purchasing a raffle ticket for you. You wrote your number and the code to give in case you won down and ran back to your bedroom, cuddling a pillow and squealing again.

Even if it was a small chance, you still had a chance.


	2. Winner?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, somebody had to win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers: Vulgar language and shit(DON'T LIKE DON'T READ)

You wait eagerly for the winning number to be drawn. All four band members sit on a couch, laughing and chatting in a livestream as part of the hype. Every now and then, Kurloz will jump in with sign language. You learned most sign language just so you could understand him.

"Dave, you shouldn't keep our dear fans waiting much longer! I'm sure they're all jumping out of their seats!" Terezi giggled her famous giggle, high-pitched and slightly raspy.

"Wanna do the honors, Karkitty?" Dave handed a small buzzer that would generate the number of one of the tickets to Karkat. He grumbled in response.

"You're lucky I put up with you." Karkat scowled and pressed the button, indifferently reading the numbers out loud. You quickly take out the notebook that had your number in it and flipped to the page. Your eyes widened in disbelief when Karkat read each and every number from your paper out loud, matching them up.

"Whoever the fuck's number that was, do the thing where you contact us within 24 hours, blah, blah. Words and shit." Karkat handed the button back to Dave and you stared at the screen in disbelief, watching them do whatever it was they do when you received an email.

'Congratulations, John! You've won the raffle for a Week with Dexterity Bliss!'

Your eyes widened and a grin spread across your face quickly and you buried your head in your pillow, screaming. You got up and ran into the living room.

"Dad! Dad! I won! I won the raffle!!" You grinned and bounced uncontrollably. Your dad sat on the couch, reading a copy of the Biweekly Business. He smiled.

"So you'l be needing a ride to the airport is what I'm hearing. I assume they'll meet you at the airport in Houston?"

"Yeah! And we're going to drive all over the country! And I'm gonna get to go with them! And I'll get to go to all of their concerts! AND I'LL GET TO BE WITH THEM FOR A WEEK!!" You squealed again and your dad chuckled.

"Go pack your stuff, we're going first thing tomorrow." You nodded quickly and practically dashed to your room to begin packing.

=-=-=-=-=

You lie awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. It was about one in the morning, but you couldn't fall asleep. Just think: In five hours, you'd be on a flight to Texas. In two more hours, you'd be with Dexterity Bliss themselves! You grinned and smushed your pillow into your face. Who could sleep with a thing like that on their mind?!

Actually going to meet the band! Dave, Terezi, Karkat, and Kurloz, all in person! You grinned even wider and held back squealing.

=-=-=-=-=

You are now Dave Strider.

It's noon, and the raffle winner was supposed to be flying in soon. You sighed and ran a finger through your hair. All four of you waited by the gate in black sweatshirts(except for Terezi, she refused to leave her red hoodie at home) and shades, which didn't do you much good considering you wore shades every day.

Terezi and Karkat bickered like children about what the winner would look like.

"I bet he's tall, and has red hair and tons of freckles!"

"No way, shithead, he's probably some fifty year old with acne and uncombed brown hair."

Kurlos smiled slightly at the two and signed that he was probably a lookalike to one of us and they would get him confused with the real one. Terezi gasped.

"What if... he looks like Dave?" She made a look of mock terror. "Two annoying assholes? I don't think I can handle it!"

You smirk slightly and fix your shades. "Nah, there's no way anyone can have the looks of a Strider without being a Strider."

"What if he's your long lost cousin??"

"Doubtful." You looked up and noticed that the passengers from the incoming flight were arriving. You scanned the crowd for anyone looking overly excited, maybe with one of your band tees on.

Your eyes landed on a boy of about fifteen or so, brown hair in a controlled mess and thick glasses balancing on his nose. He wore one of your tees, as expected. The four of you sitting in the waiting area made eye contact and nodded, standing up and motioning for the boy to come closer.

He looked at the four of you skeptically and looked around then back at you, pointing to himself. You rolled your eyes behind your shades and nodded, beckoning again.

He looked around again and made his way over to where you were. You looked at some smudged writing on your hand and squinted to read it.

"...John Egbert?" His eyes immediately widened and a grin spread across his face. He nodded eagerly.

"Dexterity Bliss? Oh my god, thank you so much for-"

You shooshed him and put your hands in your pockets, lowering your voice. "Stop being so loud, for fuck's sake. C'mon." You turned and began walking with the other three, John practically bouncing and following behind like an eager puppy.

You had a strange feeling that this week was going to be a very long week.


	3. Bunnies in Lingerie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...Bunnies in Lingerie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers: Vulgar Language(Don't like, don't read), brief mentions of lingerie

You are John Egbert once again.

And you were in Dexterity Bliss's recording studio. With Dexterity Bliss themselves.

You stayed quiet and sat with a wide grin on your face, your hands in your lap. The four of them practiced, and every now and then someone would make a snarky comment about hitting the wrong note. It was the best thing you'd ever seen.

Then they started playing 'Carry On my Wayward Puns', one of their covers they did.. except they switched up the lyrics. You had bought this song on your phone- it was, by far, your favorite cover that they had done.

Your knees bounced to the beat in spite of your efforts to be "cool". When they had finished, they began packing up their equipment.

"You don't get carsick or anything, do you?" Terezi asked. You shook your head. You were too scared to talk to them, you thought they would think you were a nerd(you are, but that's besides the point). "Good, 'cause we're gonna hit the road."

Dave stood up and stretched, putting his guitar in his case and unplugging the amp. You looked around and noticed that Kurloz wasn't there. When had he--

Your train of thought was interrupted as you turned around, finding Kurloz standing stock still behind you. He wore a skeleton printed sweatshirt and, in the darkness of the corner, looked absolutely terrifying. You jumped and screamed a bit, clutching your chest with one hand as the rest of the band lost it in fits of laughter.

"Oooh my god, that was priceless!" Terezi laughed her signature laugh and you fought back the fanboyish squeals that rose in your chest. Karkat laughed loud and obnoxiously, Dave just chuckled and smiled. Gotta keep up that cool kid façade.

They finished packing up their things after a bit, and the bus pulled into the driveway. A tall man with bleached blonde hair and pointy, triangular shades drove the bus. Dave groaned when he saw this. Terezi snickered and Kurloz rolled his eyes. Karkat was indifferent.

"Bro, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm coming with my lil' man."

"No."

"None of you are any good at driving, you need me."

"No." Dave crossed his arms and the older one ruffled his hair, looking over at you.

"Is this your number one fan?"

"Hey bro, make like a tree and get the fuck out."

Terezi butted in. "I don't think that's how the saying goes." Dave flicked Terezi's forehead and she laughed again.

"I bet he has secret satanic shrines of you in his backyard." You felt your face getting hotter and you shifted your weight uncomfortably.

"Bro! Knock it off!" Dave growled.

"You love me. Now get in the van, we're going to New York."

"You are not driving us. Remember what happened on the last road trip?"

"How could I forget?" He chuckles. "I'm glad the police liked your band, you might not have made it to the concert."

Karkat growled a bit. "Someone just drive the fucking van, we're on a schedule, unless you douche nozzles forgot."

Kurloz signed: 'Karkat's right for once, just let him drive the van.' Dave groaned again.

"Fine. Whatever, fine." Everyone piled onto the bus and, as you passed the window, the blonde with the pointy shades held out a hand.

"Dirk. Call me bro." You shook his hand and smiled.

"I'm John! ..Call me John." Bro chuckled a bit at your piteous attempt at a joke and you got on the bus.

The bus was larger than it had seemed, there were two rows of benches in the front of the bus, separated in the middle in favor of an isle. Behind that was a fridge, a sink, and some cabinets on one side, and a large booth with a table on the other. In the back was what you assumed to be a bathroom and beds.

Terezi lay sprawled out across one of the seats, and Kurloz sat in another, on his laptop with headphones on. Dave sat in the booth and Karkat was god knows where, doing god knows what. You took a seat next to Dave in the booth.

"Umm..." You said, awkwardly, trying to fill the silence. "How are you?"

"Good." Dave said simply, putting his head down on the table and folding his arms underneath him. You looked around and everyone seemed to be doing their thing. So you got out your sketchbook and started doodling. Your friends had said that you were an amazing artist, but you didn't think so.

Dave lifted his head up a bit. "Whatcha drawing?" You realized you had been doodling Terezi and Karkat. Damn your fanboy ways. You quickly flipped to another blank page.

"Nothing." You said, biting the inside of your cheek. Dave grabs your sketchbook and starts to go through your drawings and you panic, realizing how much fanart for Dexterity Bliss you had made.

Dave flipped to a page and you could tell he was holding back laughter. You looked over his shoulder to see a picture you had drawn of the band in sexy lingerie and bunny ears, playing their instruments. In big, bold letters at the top, it read: 'Happy Halloween: Stay Spooky'.

"Hey, TZ, take a whiff of this." Your eyes widened and you tried to take your sketchbook from Dave, but were an instant too late. Dave had tossed it in Terezi's direction. She grinned and smelled your sketchbook. You... weren't too sure what that was about. Did she 'see' with her nose?

She burst out into laughter. "Oh my god, this is fucking priceless!" She laughed even harder and showed it to Kurloz and Karkat. You stared down at your lap, blushing an intense crimson. Dave gently punched your shoulder and chuckled.

"Cheer up, dude, that was a pretty badass drawing." You laughed awkwardly and forced yourself to smile.

...Maybe this was going to be a longer week than you thought.


	4. Detour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave ends up taking a lovely Detour to Niagara Falls. Such a beautiful place...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers: Vulgar language(probably in every chapter)

You are now Dave Strider.

The first concert in New York City had been a couple hours ago, and the five(bro doesn't count, you told yourself) of you were on the bus, driving to Detroit.

You began to think that John was gonna be one of those lame fans that was absolutely petrified in your presence, but he was beginning to lighten up, so that was a good thing.

And all you had to do, really, was spike his drink. Just a bit. No big deal- he wouldn't feel it in the morning.

He was actually pretty cool when he wasn't as uptight.

You don't know what had happened, but, despite being underage, you had all gotten pretty wasted, and were dancing to shitty pop music music on the radio.

Laughter erupted from the bus. John was doing some weird dance in the middle of one of the isles, and everyone was cheering him on. And by everyone, you mean you, Karkat, and Terezi. Kurloz looked like he was enjoying himself, at least.

The rest of the night passed in a blur, and before you knew it, John was passed out in your lap. You looked around to see that you were the only one awake and pushed your shades up, looking down at the sleeping boy and smiling a bit.

You ran your fingers through his tangled hair and sighed to yourself. He was really cute when he slept..

What were you thinking? You had a girlfriend back in Houston.

...Somehow, it didn't matter. You felt yourself untangling the other's hair subconsciously, running your hands through it as you stated out the window. The sky outside was dark and dismal, rainclouds filled the night sky, and not a star was to be seen. The ground passed by quickly. You looked at your faint reflection in the glass and your demonic red eyes stared back at you.

You hated your eyes... You slipped your shades back on and sighed to yourself quietly. You found yourself drifting off to sleep, your fingers tangled in your biggest fan's hair.

===================

You heard a clicking noise and a giggle. You groaned and opened your eyes, seeing Terezi standing over you and the curled up John in your lap. You sighed.

"Really, TZ?"

"Hehehe, I couldn't resist." She grinned and looked at her phone. You untangled your fingers in the other's hair and stretched your arms a bit. Terezi tossed a water bottle to you and you caught it flawlessly, opening it and taking a sip. Your head hurt like a bitch, but you're 99% sure it would be gone by concert time.

You felt John begin to stir on your lap, and he leaned up, rubbing his eyes.

"'Morning, John." You said, ruffling his hair. His eyes widened and he blushed.

"O-oh god, I fell asleep on you!"

"Mhm."

"Oh jeez, umm... S-sorry!"

"It's cool, dude." You chuckled a bit and he covered his face with his hands. You handed the bottle of water to him. "Need a drink?" He shook his head politely and got up from off of you. You stood up, stretching again and finishing off the water. You threw it at Terezi and nailed her in the back of the head.

"Hey!"

"You deserved that."

Karkat was awake now, watching you two fight.

"I ship you guys." He chuckled.

"More than you ship Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore?"

"Fuck no, nobody compares to that ship." You looked over and it looked like Kurloz had been awake for hours. You looked out the window and noticed snow.

"Isn't it, like, August?" You asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah.." Terezi replied. "August 23."

"What the fuck.." You pulled out your phone. "Siri, where are we?"

"The nearest town is Niagara Falls, Canada."

You growled a bit and Terezi made a 'tsk'ing noise. You walked up to the driver's area and bro looked over at you.

"Hey lil' dude, what's-" You smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow! What the fuck!"

"That's what I should be asking you! We're in Canada!"

"Canada? No, dude, we..." He trailed off and sighed a bit.

"Pull the van over."

"What? No-"

"Pull the fucking van over." Bro opened his mouth to object, then sighed again and pulled the van over at a nearby gas station.

"I'm driving the van now, move over."

"You can't even drive yet, you're seventeen."

"Well the only two people that can drive are a blind chick and a mute skeleton."

"And me."

"You are not driving anymore. We have a deadline, we have to be in Detroit in.." You looked at your watch and you began to panic. "Two hours!"

"Come on, I-" You pushed him out of the seat and buckled yourself in, pulling out of the gas station.

"Dude-"

"Shut your fucking mouth. I'm the only one that actually knows where we're going."

"You don't have a license."

"You don't have common sense." You continued to drive the car down the road, quickly putting in directions on Siri. "Fuck! We're gonna be late!" You stepped on the gas pedal. It was only about fifteen miles above the speed limit, it wasn't that bad. You couldn't risk being late for your concert. You got your manager on the line.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need you to stall, we had a... 'detour' in Niagara Falls."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow updates, I'll get on a schedule soon, I promise! ^-^


	5. Rivals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do you believe in love at first sight?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers: Vulgar language, blah blah

You are now the manager for Dexterity Bliss.

The band had just called, and they were in... Niagara Falls? You don't know what that was all about, but the show started in an hour and a half, and you knew they wouldn't be able to do it.

You scampered around backstage and an intern handed you coffee. As tempting as it was, you didn't take the coffee- though it was your favorite. You politely declined, and continued rushing around like an ant on a mission. You got to a phone and called up someone you knew-- Dave wouldn't like it, but it was your last resort.

====================

You are now John Egbert once again.

Dave pulled the bus into the concert parking lot- you hoped that you had made it. You checked your watch and smiled a bit- only fifteen minutes behind schedule. Everyone rushed to get their equipment when you heard a band playing inside.

"Looks like Karen got someone to stall." Terezi noted and chuckled. The four of you got their things and as you approached, you could hear who was playing.

"Is that..." Karkat started.

"Oh, fuck no." Dave growled. "I'm going to fire Karen, I swear to god."

You bit your lip. You knew exactly who it was. You were ashamed to admit it after being on a tour with Dexterity Bliss, but you loved them...

Eternal Apathy. The number one Rivals of Dexterity Bliss.

Vocalist: Vriska Serket. Platinum white hair, streaks of cobalt blue. 18. Mean, but she is the one that keeps the band together.

Guitarist: Tavros Nitram. Orange hair. 17. He was a little bit shy and quiet, but he could do a killer solo.

Bassist: Damara Megido. Red hair. 22. Loves Japanese and anime stuff. Her bassline could rival Terezi's.

Drummer: Equius Zahhak. Extremely strong. 18. Maybe the strongest man alive.

Pianist: Kanaya Maryam. Perfectionist. 19. Fashionista. Makes all the outfits for the band.

Eternal Apathy was more popular than Dexterity Bliss. Not by much, though.

The group went to go set up backstage while Dave barked at Karen, and you looked onto the stage and your eyes widened as you saw Vriska. She... was really pretty, like holy hell. You had only ever seen two pictures of the band, you mostly just listened to their music and read fanfiction, so you didn't know what to expect and oh my god you think you're in love.

====================

You watched as Eternal Apathy got off the stage. As Vriska walked, she sashayed, and the way everyone else followed told you that she had the band under her thumb.

"Uhh..." You said like an idiot, quickly backing into the wall to give them room to walk. Vriska looked over at you and flashed you a sickly sweet smile, waving the rest of the band off and walking towards you. Your heart began pounding in your ears and you found it hard to breathe.

"So you're the little bandmate wannabe who's gonna follow Bliss around, hmm?" She chuckled. "Cute."

"Uhm..." You felt a small blush rising to your cheeks. God dammit, say something! "I-I like your music! And... and your hair is really pretty!!" Your face grew hotter and you could tell Vriska was stifling a laugh.

"Thanks..? I mean, I already knew I was adorable as fuck." She cupped her face in her hands and giggled. "You're pretty cool for someone that listens to Bliss."

"Uh.. Thanks." You managed to smile and she grinned back, patting the top of your head before turning on her heels and marching back to where the band was. You ran a hand through your hair and exhaled, your heart rate steadily going back to normal. You don't know what it was about her... You thought you were gay, you hadn't felt anything for females before, but... maybe you weren't gay...

You pushed those thoughts aside for now and watched Dave stop and look at Vriska as she passed him.

"Serket."

"Strider."

There was a tense silence between the two of them, and you got chills seeing the two glare daggers at each other. The moment seemed to last forever until Dexterity Bliss' manager (Karen, apparently) stepped in.

"Uh.. Eight minutes until showtime, Dave." Dave broke his gaze away without hesitation, grabbed his guitar and walked on stage, setting up. Vriska left to go somewhere offstage. You stood there, back pressed against the wall in your dorky glasses and band tee-shirt.

====================

You are now Dave Strider.

You thought the concert was a success, you had played your heart out on the last few songs.

You entered your dressing room and immediately noticed a messy mop of white and blue hair sitting on the dresser.

"Hey Dave, th-"

"Get the fuck out of my dressing room."

"What, you-"

"Get the fuck out of my dressing room."

"Can-"

"Get the fuck out of my dressing room."

"Hey, just let me explain!" She growled at you and you crossed your arms, closing the door and leaning back against it.

"Will you leave afterwards?"

"Of course, don't want to spend more time with you than I have to."

"You've got five minutes."

"So." Vriska stood up and put her hair into a ponytail, taking her sweet time before explaining. "I thought we could make a little wager."

"What kind of a wager?"

"I bet I can get that little groupie of yours-"

"John."

"Yes, John. I bet I can get John to become a groupie for Eternal Apathy and ditch your tour."

You laughed. "Pathetic. He's not going to leave us for some rock-pop wannabe band."

"You haven't even heard the stakes yet!"

You rolled your eyes. "What are the stakes?"

"If I win, you get to keep your little groupie, and I have to do anything you say."

"And what if you don't win?"

"If I don't win, I'll admit that Dexterity Bliss is my number one role model." Vriska drew out her vowels, clasping her hands together and looking up, mock daydreaming. "The way they play gives me life, I strive to be so much like them-- especially that Strider fellow, what a hunk!"

You chuckled. "You think anyone's gonna believe that for a god damn second?"

"Of course they will. I have my ways." She grinned mischievously and giggled. "So, what do you say?" She held out a hand with perfectly manicured nails.

You didn't respond, but, shook her hand.

"So it's a deal! How wonderful!" She giggled. "I'll leave you alone now!~"


	6. Half-Chapter: Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit gets real, and some lip virginity is lost.
> 
> Little half chapter for y'all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so some people are probably going to hate me.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST VRISKA OR JOHNVRISK
> 
> Triggers: Vulgar language

You are now John Egbert. Sweet, (hopefully)loyal Egbert.

You sit on an amp, scrolling through your tumblr and smiling to yourself. Vriska walked up to you and leaned against the wall. You felt your throat get tight and you turned off your phone, putting it in your pocket and avoided looking at her.

"Hey! So, John, was it?"

"Uhm... yeah..."

"Cool!" She giggled and twirled a bit of hair between her fingers.

"You're actually pretty cute..!" She giggled again. You could feel your face getting hot and you looked down at the ground.

"Uhm... Uh... Th-thanks...!" You mentally facepalmed for your stutter and your cheeks grew hotter.

====================

You are Vriska Serket, and you were about to win a bet.

You giggled a bit. You had this groupie under your thumb-- as everyone else. You mean, it's not your fault you're so wonderful in every way! If they're not into you, they're probably gay. Like Strider. Gay as fuck.

Of course, nobody else knows that. You went to the same elementary, and he was your first boyfriend. Cute, yes, but he broke up with you for some wannabe punk dude. He's been keeping it in the closet, and you think has a fake girlfriend, but you know the truth, and have always have had this advantage on him.

You thought several times you could leak it to the media, but then realized you could use it against him. This was the perfect time to-- you could utilize it and win the bet.

You tactically acted like a stupid blonde, twiddling your hair between your thumb and forefinger. "Strider, like, kind of has a crush on you. He's in the closet. He told me so."

"Why would he? What- why would he tell you that?"

"We used to be, like, really really good friends. He's not into girls. And he has a cruuush on youuu!" You giggled and bopped his nose.

"I, uhh..." He blushed even more. "Wh-what do I do? I'm straight... I think so."

"You could always join Apathy for a week instead!~"

"Well, I mean, I don't-"

"Come on! It would be fuun!"

"I..." He paused and avoided looking at you. You sat down next to him.

"I.. kind of like you." You said. He looked at you.

"You... you do? What?" He looked like he didn't quite believe you. You rolled your eyes and giggled.

This was going to take drastic measures.

====================

You are now Dave Strider. You wandered around, looking for John. Your plan was to keep him busy before Vriska could have a chance to-

You slipped behind a lighting setup. The two of them were talking, and Vriska was working her charm. You were just about to step in when-

That bitch! That was probably his first kiss!

You growled to yourself and you bit your lip. Of course she would, only she would. Only she could think of something to do like that. Only her.

You turned on your heel and began to walk back to your dressing room. You could feel your chest getting tight, and you didn't know why. You didn't like Vriska anymore, it couldn't be that. You had a girlfriend... And you couldn't like John, you had a girlfriend! A fucking girlfriend!

You slammed the door shut and slid down the wall with your back against it, ending on the floor. What the fuck was wrong with you? You took your shades off and looked at your reflection in your shades. Your red eyes stared back at you and you hated them so much... You always did.

Ever since you were a young fetus child, you had always hidden your eyes from people. Every now and then, someone would get curious, and someone would take your shades from you. You got used to "Demon" and "Spawn of Satan".

You buried your head in your knees.

"You're a mess, Strider... Get it together." You could almost hear yourself saying. You sighed.

...What were you going to do with yourself?


	7. The Truth Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John ends up finding some things out... but did he really want to know?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers: Vulgar Language

You are now the author of this wonderful story.

You would like to take a quick second before the chapter and apologize to your dear readers for the many point of view changes in the story, and how often they occur. You would also like to apologize for the short chapters and promise you will write longer, better, and less confusing chapters in the future. You also would like to promise that you will soon adopt an updating schedule for your wonderful book(and hopefully not neglect your other ones, oops).

You're done here, and you abscond from the shameless self-insertion(as Hussie himself would put it) to go write another chapter.

====================

You are now John Egbert.

You struggled against Vriska's lips. This chick was insa--

You pushed these thoughts to the back of your head. A beautiful-as-fuck famous girl was kissing you! You began to feel yourself relaxing into the kiss, even kissing back a little. Despite your better judgement, it was as if you had fallen in love at first sight. The two of you stayed like that for a moment before she pulled away. You sighed.

"Mmm, John you stud! You kiss like a man!"

"Uhh..." You feel your cheeks flush again. Vriska giggles. "...Aren't you going out with the guitarist? Tavros?"

"I'd gladly ditch him for you any day, cutie." She giggled and straddled your lap. "C'mon, ditch this one-track band and join us." You politely pushed her off of you and stood up.

"I... uh... don't think-"

"You're not going to chicken out, are you?" You paused for a moment and sighed, your thoughts mulling around in your brain.

"I just... No offense, I love your band and everything... But I won the raffle to be with Dexterity Bliss.".

"So what if we held a raffle? Hm? Would you come if you won?"

"Well, maybe, but-"

"So come on! What are you waiting for! We can have our own little raffle!" You shook your head and avoided looking at Vriska.

"It's, umm... I really liked your kiss, but... I just don't think I could abandon the tour, I mean, what would Dave think?"

"Dave's just a little bitch that only cares about what he wants!" She snapped. "He's not even cool! He just wears those shades to pretend to be a fucking badass who gets whatever the hell he wants, when he wants!"

You opened your mouth to say something but she cut you off, gesturing frustratedly with her hands as she spoke.

"I mean, it's not like he cares or anything, he was practically BEGGING me to take you off his hands! He said, 'Please, Vriska! You're so wonderful and amazing, I just can't take this annoying-ass groupie anymore! Pleeeeeeeease convince him to follow you around, I just can't staaaaaaaand being around his fanboy ass for much longer!'"

"...Dave said that about me?" As much as you wanted to sound confident and in control, you found your voice quiet and meek.

"Of course he did! You didn't really think someone like us would enjoy spending a week with some stupid fanboy who has no life whatsoever, did you? Pffft- that's almost too pathetic and naive for words! Just like you, a pathetic, naive loser who won't even fall for my OBVIOUS charm and leave the fucking tour so I can have Strider under my thumb once and for all!" Vriska scoffed angrily and messed with her hair.

"...Is that what you really think?" Vriska stopped in her tracks and looked up at you. You could feel tears start to well up in your eyes.

"No, of course not! I like you!" She took a step forward towards you and you took a few steps back. "You believe me, right? I didn't mean to say all that, it wasn't true.".

As much as you wanted to believe her and forget the whole thing had ever happened, you shook your head and took a few shaky breaths before turning on your heels and running. Vriska called out to you as you ran, but you didn't listen... You didn't care anymore, you just wanted to be home. Home with your dad, home with shitty cakes and band posters... Back to the way it was before.

====================

Your eyes fluttered open to be greeted by a bright white light. You squinted and tried to push yourself into a sitting position as a stab of pain jolted through your back. You gasped and dropped back down to the bed.

You opened your eyes a little more and saw that you were in... a hospital room? Why were you here?

People in the room begun stirring as you tried to sit up again. A nurse helped you sit up and put a pillow behind your back for extra support. You looked down, and you had a cast on your whole upper body, minus your arms and shoulders.

"...What happened?" You found yourself asking. You looked around the room and saw some familiar faces. Your dad, your cousin, Jade... and Dave and Vriska. You were at that point where you weren't going to question why the lead singers from two rising star rock-punk bands were visiting you in the hospital.

You looked over at Vriska and she gave you a sickly sweet smile. "That's the million dollar question, ain't it, kid?"

"What do you mean?"

"Karkat found you lying in the middle of the floor. God knows what the fuck actually happened." Dave supplied. You stared at the ground and tried to remember what happened. What actually happened..? Running away from Vriska was the last thing you remember. Did you trip..?

As much as you didn't want to think of it as a possibility... did someone trip you?


	8. Well, Shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John ends up caught in a series of unfortunate events... but could there be a silver lining?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:
> 
> So yeah I tried to make it a longer chapter and I'm pretty happy with where this is going (ง'̀-'́)ง  
> Schedule is most likely going to be Monday's and Thursday's because that's when I usually have the most free time.
> 
> Triggers: Vulgar language, talk about hatesex

You hadn't really gotten a straight explanation out of anyone... but you kind of pieced it together.

What you think had happened was you were running, and your foot got tangled in one of the chords. You had managed to knock yourself unconscious and tumble off the stage, landing on your side and breaking a few ribs. At least, that's what you could piece together. Or what you hoped you could piece together.

This trip was definitely not going as you had expected... Not at all.

Jade had to go before you talked much to her. She had some kind of a tournament to go to. There seemed to be some tension between her and Dave(you don't really know what that's all about). Had they met before? And Jade never told you she met a super-famous rock idol?? Christ, you were going to make her tell you about it later.

Vriska had bailed a while ago, after she saw you were awake plus a few minutes to call someone to pick her up. Your dad also had to go... He was staying the night in a hotel, then the two of you would fly back to Washington together. You tried to protest, but your dad told you that you couldn't keep touring with a broken rib.

That left Dave. He sat in the hospital room, providing as silent company. He just stared at the wall, but somehow you thought this was better than being alone altogether. Something Vriska said was tugging at the back of your mind...

"Dave?"

He turned his head to face you. "Yeah?"

"...Do you have a crush on me?" As soon as the words left your mouth, you wanted to take them back. Shit! What if he thought you were just being a homophobic asshole by asking if he had a crush on you?? "I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. Vriska just told me that you did, and, uh, I wanted to make sure?" You added quickly, but you're pretty sure you made it worse.

There was a long bit of silence before he responded. "Vriska told you that?"

"Erm... yeah..."

"She was probably just trying to win." He crossed his legs at the knee and smirked. "I guess the metaphorical cat's out of the bag. We made a bet. If Vriska got you to leave the tour, I'd practically be her slave for a day. If she couldn't get you to leave, she'd admit her 'undying love' for me."

You stared at Dave blankly. Was this what celebrities did? Make bets on normal people? I mean, it made sense, having nothing else to do in their cash-rich life. But I guess you just didn't see it coming.

Actually, now that you think about it, you could see Nicholas Cage making a bet on a random kid.

...No, you couldn't see it.

"But wait, why make a bet over me?"

"'Cause Vriska probably had a crush on you. Probably like a shitty crush from one of her hatenovels where the characters hate each other and end up having hatesex because of their undying hatred of each other."

"Oh."

"Like shit, have you ever read one of those? I got through a chapter and shit got disturbing on so many levels it wasn't even funny. Like not even disturbing like Fifty Shades of Hate, but I'm talking straight up creepy, like nearly murdering someone and licking the blood off their wounds and just when they think they've had enough, when they're holding on to the last itty-bitty strands of their precious little life they hold so dear and are finally ready to let go and leave this cold, cruel world, the other person doesn't let them die and keeps them alive for more disturbing hate shit."

"...Oh." You read somewhere on a headcanon blog that Dave rants about seemingly pointless shit when he feels awkward or doesn't want to talk.

"Yeah, but then the cops get ahold of them and they're like 'oh no officer McFuckface, we were just pretending, haha, this isn't blood what no' and the officer is like 'well shit, can't argue with that logic' and leaves them to shove knives up their assholes or something. But then the wife walks in, and is all up in his grill and then he just explains that 'nah, just hatesex' and the wife's apparently chill with her husband having hatesex with some random chick that she's never met before, like no, it's not cheating if it's because of hate."

You opened your mouth to say something and closed it again. What would you even say in response to that?

"And then after the whole spiel, the rest of the book involves sexual tension between the hatecouple for weeks and weeks on end and nobody seems to know what's up with them until they end up murdering each other due to hatred and all that jazz. Then comes book two, when the wife needs to cope with the death of her husband, and ends up falling in hate with some guy on the street. The whole sha-bang, all over again from the very start. But this time, from the hate-cheating widow's sad and lonely point of view."

"...I thought you only read the first chapter?" You laughed nervously, hoping you heard him right.

He paused and looked over at you. "Forget I said anything. As far as you're concerned, my reading material is none of your business."

"Ooooooookay then."

"You've already spent too much time with Vriska. That was eight o's you used."

"I spoke it, how did you see the letters? C'mon Dave, don't be meta."

"I will be whatever the fuck I want to be." Dave make a peace sign with his hand and put it up against his face. It added to the comedic factor that he had a poker face while doing so.

You laughed and he smirked a bit. Gotta love the Strider ways.

"So anyways, since you're going back to Washington or some shit, let's keep in contact." Dave took out a red sharpie and wrote a series of letters and scribble marks on your cast. You looked down and...

You got his chum handle! Yes!

You would have gotten up and did your happy dance if one, he wasn't here and two, you weren't in a cast in the first place. But if you weren't in a cast you probably wouldn't have gotten his number, so you guess it all comes full circle.

"We gotta hit the road to be on schedule for tomorrow's gig. Well, see ya, Egbert." You waved and smiled and he waved back, leaving.

====================

Your hospital stay was boring, and the flight ride back to Washington was uneventful. As soon as you went inside, you added Dave's number to your pesterchum on your phone.

...You grinned and lay on your bed, being mindful of your cast. You held a pillow close to you, shooting Dave a message.

EB: hey dave!!

You, surprisingly, got a response right away.

TG: hey egderp  
TG: plane ride cool?  
TG: you didnt crash the plane or some shit did you  
TG: stupid ass airline pilots letting just anyone fly a plane  
TG: you gotta have delicacy and precision to do shit like that  
EB: haha no  
EB: it was pretty boring though  
TG: well damn, my little egderps gonna grow up to be a pimp  
TG: a single tear rolls down my cheek  
EB: :B  
TG: christ do me a favor and never use that face again  
EB: why not?? :B  
TG: jesus no stop  
EB: :B :B :B  
TG: no  
TG: just  
TG: go throw your phone in a ditch and forget that face ever existed  
TG: trust me, its not for my sake, its for the betterment of mankind as a whole  
TG: wwtpd  
TG: what would the president do if he saw that face  
TG: probably pass a shit ton of laws to make people stop using that face  
TG: oh hey, did i tell you on the last day of the tour were playing in seattle?  
TG: i can probably snag you some tickets  
EB: oh wow, really??  
TG: hell yeah  
TG: its what bros do  
EB: sweet!!  
TG: plus, its the least i can do for you only really staying for part of the tour

You grinned. You were actually going to go to a concert for Dexterity Bliss!


	9. You Fucked Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You are now Dave Strider... and you made the unfortunate mistake of letting Vriska find out your deepest, darkest secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers: Vulgar language

You were scrolling through Instagram and saw that Dave reposted your drawing of the band in lingerie and bunny ears. You know, the one you tried so hard to keep a secret from the band on the tour? Well, they had your Instagram now, and they reposted your picture.

You got a lot of congratulatory comments and followers because of it, but you were kind of getting used to being noticed my Dave and oh my god he followed you.

The rest of the week creeped by slowly. Seriously, every second felt like an hour. You really wanted to see the band play, like, in a concert where the audience is pumped and the adrenaline is high. You were so excited that not even one of Dave's long rants could explain how you felt about it! Speaking of Dave...

TG: yo egderp  
TG: guess what tomorrow is  
EB: friday!  
TG: christ do you even listen to anything i say  
TG: its the last day of the tour  
EB: neat!

Ugh! How embarrassing!

You mean, Dave is so cool, and he says so many cool things! And you're not uncool! You like bands and musically-inspired movies just as much as the next guy, so you can't believe that's all you could say to him.

TG: ... are you kidding me  
TG: last day  
TG: seattle show  
EB: right!!  
EB: oh man, i cant wait!!  
TG: i honestly dont see the appeal of being in a crowd with a bunch of sweaty teenagers  
EB: seeing you in concert is different from seeing you one on one though!  
EB: its like... getting a new dog!  
EB: seeing it for the first time is way cooler than just looking at it in the shelter!  
TG: arf  
EB: oh my god  
TG: well gotta go  
TG: important band shit  
TG: later  
EB: bye!!

You grinned to yourself and mushed your face into a pillow. He was soo cool!

====================

You were supposed to be doing your classwork, but you were on your phone underneath your desk reading various articles and taking quizzes on Buzzfeed.

We all do it sometimes. 

Back to the important stuff. There was a quiz for which Dexterity Bliss character you'd pair up the best with. Why not?

Question 1:  
Which of these eggs speaks to your soul?

...What? You guess the scrambled one?

Question #1:  
If you could go anywhere, where would you go?

That one's pretty standard. You would go to France.

Question #2:  
Pick your favorite old school gaming system.

SNES. Duh!

Question #3:  
Which of these eggs speaks to your soul?

...What? You guess the scrambled one?

Question #4:  
Which of these cats look like your left foot?

Okay, what the hell was with these qu- oh. That one looked like your foot.

Question #5:  
This isn't a question. I just wanted whoever took this test to know I have absolutely no fucking clue what I'm doing.

...

You could tell.

You sighed and adjusted your cast. It was kind of uncomfortable in the position it sat in. You put your phone back in your backpack and doodled on the corner of your page.

====================

 

You are now Dave Strider... and you made the unfortunate mistake of letting Vriska find out your deepest, darkest secret.

"Y-You're a fucking demon!" She took a fearful step backwards, clutching your shades in her tight grip. You could see her knuckles turning white and her face paled. You sighed.

"Can we skip the drama and get to the part where I get my shades back and you leave?"

"Hell no! Hell fucking no!" Vriska took out her phone and flashed a picture of your eyes before you could look away.

"Now the whole world's gonna know that their little 'idol' is a demon sent from the dark abyss of hell!" She spat.

...How'd you find yourself in this situation? Let's retrace your steps.

====================

You were in your favorite coffee shop, waiting for your cappuccino to be made. You wore a hood over your face so you wouldn't be recognized- not that it wouldn't be welcome, you just didn't feel like taking shit from fans. You weren't in the best of moods.

You thanked the barista and took your drink, taking a sip to make sure it was good. The scorching coffee burnt the inside of your mouth and you winced slightly. You sighed.

You walked out of the shop, but you decided to take your time. Seattle was a busy place and the show wasn't for at least five hours. Might as well tour around.

Dark clouds loomed overhead. You heard that it rains a lot in Seattle, and you hoped it was true. Rain was your favorite thing.

You walked from street to street, looking around at everybody bustling to where they needed to be and you accidentally bumped into somebody.

"Ah- Oh, uh, sorry!" It was a girl of about sixteen. She had icy blue eyes, and blonde hair. Her gaze was fixated on your shades and you could practically see the gears turning in her head.

"It's cool." You said with a slight chuckle. Her eyes widened and she pulled down your hood to reveal the rest of your face. She gasped and a grin spread across her face.

"You're Dave Strider!" You put a finger over her lips and put your hood back on.

"Keep it down, kid."

"Wow, it is you! I'm going to your concert later today!! Um, can I have your autograph?" She quickly fished a notepad and paper from her backpack and you chuckled, taking it from her.

"No problem. Who should I address it to?"

"Casiey Serket!" You froze and looked over at her.

"Vriska Serket's younger sister, I presume?"

"Yeah! I hate her though." Casiey pouted and tucked her hair behind her ear. "She's a jerk!"

"Damn straight she is." You chuckled. "How do you spell that?"

"C-A-S-I-E-Y." Casiey smiled as you signed, 'To: Casiey Serket. Love, Dave Strider'. You drew a little face next to it and handed the notepad back to the girl. She grinned and held the notepad close.

"Thank you!!"

"No problem." You held out your fist and Casiey fist bumped you. She then ran off squealing and you chuckled, allowing yourself a soft smile. You looked around, thank god nobody else saw you. You pulled the hood further over your face and continued walking.


	10. Hailstorm in Seattle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave and Vriska spend some... quality... time...

As you walked, you began to notice more people heading indoors. You decided to continue walking, it wasn't like this was some horror movie and they were hiding from a giant robotic being with evil intentions. That would be weird.

...Yeah, that would be weird.

For some strange reason, you became paranoid about evil robots, which is stupid, because that's not gonna happen. Maybe ever.

You quickly walked into a shop nearby. Fuck it, you weren't gonna take chances with robots.

You took a look around the shop. It was a bookstore, but had a coffee shop attached go it. But really, what place in Seattle doesn't have a coffee shop attached to it? Hell, even the coffee shops have their own private coffee shops for special occasions.

What if there was a loop where the employees of every coffee shop had their own private coffee shop for them and then the employees of that coffee shop had a coffee shop for themselves? You just created a fucking paradox. You were good at that.

You looked around again and sat in an empty seat with your still-hot-as-fuck coffee. There weren't a ton of people in the building, except the workers and a few hipsters reading. The adjoining library wasn't too busy either. You counted eight people.

You shivered. You hated the number eight. Eight of anything equals terror, betrayal, and possibly death. Eight means hatred, fear, and rivalry.

There was no way you could know what would happen eight minutes later.

Four of those eight passed in silence. Two were filled with the sound of rain. One was all it took to lead you outside, and fifty-nine seconds were spent walking until, in the last small second left, your gaze met with none other than Vriska Serket.

She strode quickly across the street towards you. You prepared to duck into an alleyway if anything happened and she flashed a smile your way.

"Hi!"

"Funny seeing you here." You said skeptically.

"Oh, I was driving my lil sis here for your concert. She can't have a better taste in music, can she?" Vriska giggled. "Nah, your music's pretty chill."

"Thanks..?" You raised a skeptic eyebrow. What the hell was she after?

"So anyways, your concert isn't for, like, four hours, right?" Vriska didn't slow down for you to answer. "You wanna go catch a movie or something?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"No."

"C'mon, I want a real answer!"

"What do you want, Vriska?"

"I just wanna hang out with you!"

You narrowed your eyes a bit and crossed your arms. "Okay, I'll humor you."

"Great! Let's get out of the rain then, shall we?" Vriska took out an umbrella and held it over the both of you. You kept a safe distance away from her in case she was trying to pull anything, because, to be honest, you couldn't trust that girl with a goldfish. She'd probably kill it and feed it to her army of evil spider minions.

The two of you reached the movie theaters. It was now pouring, and it had become colder than it was. You pulled your sweatshirt closer around yourself.

"Whatcha wanna see?"

"Anything's fine."

"Doubtful, but what about that new movie, Homestuck? I heard it's been getting a ton of good reviews!"

"If there's nothing better to watch." Vriska put her umbrella in her- she was wearing a purse. What the fuck. She never wears a purse, that you know of. Ever.

The two of you walked into the theater and got your tickets. Vriska insisted on paying and you rolled your eyes behind your shades. She giggled and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear.

You and Vriska sat in the theater near the back. The movie started, and the beginning of it was fairly boring. Who was this John Egberg douchebag? Vriska looked over at you.

"Why do you wear your shades indoors?"

"Gotta keep my cool kid look up."

"Can you still see?" She reached up and gently grabbed the sides of your shades. You were quick and grabbed her wrist before she could pull your shades away. That's when it hit you what this was about.

"Look, I'm flattered, but I know you're just doing this go get me under your control like you do with everybody else, and it's not gonna work."

"What? Doing what?"

"Don't you fucking play innocent."

"I'm not playing! I have no idea what you're talking about!" Vriska looked taken aback. You stood up.

"Sorry, it's not working." You began to head out of the theater and she grabbed the sleeve of your sweatshirt.

"Wait! Please! Just give me a chance!" She looked up at you pleadingly. You sighed and sat back down.

"Don't touch the shades." She nodded and the both of you looked back at the screen. This movie was honestly pretty hard to follow... All these aliens, and weird machines, and dead grandparents? Whoever made this was probably psycho. Certifiably insane.

It was pretty interesting, though you were only half-paying attention. The other half of the time you were watching Vriska for anything that could possibly be signs of something sneaky.

The rest of the movie passed by uneventfully. Vriska smiled over at you and the now-empty theater gave you the chills. You had a feeling something bad was going to happen.

You stood and yawned, stretching your arms out a bit. "Y'know, maybe I was wrong about you." Vriska's face lit up.

"I just don't want us to be rivals anymore!" She giggled and smiled broadly. You allowed yourself a small smile back. Vriska stood along with you and the two of you began to walk out.

"Christ, what happened to that soulless bitch that stole John's first kiss?" Vriska laughed awkwardly.

"Weeeeeeeell, I kind of really wanted to win, and wasn't thinking..."

"Fair enough." You looked out the glass doors of the theater. "Shit, it's hailing."

"I guess we should stay indoors until the hail passes, then?" Vriska suggested. You looked at your phone and sighed.

"It better be over in less than three hours."

"It'll be fine! I promise!"

"Whatever you say." You shook your head a bit and put your hands in your pockets.

"We could go hang out in the mall."

"Wouldn't we have to, like, walk somewhere? In the fucking hail."

"No! It's attached here!" Vriska grabbed your wrist and headed quickly off to a door in the wall.


	11. Filler: Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It would be a shame if someone were to expose Dave's little "secret".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:
> 
> I'm sorry for the slow updates! :(  
> I just have a ton going on, so chapters might be shorter and there might be less of them, but I'll do my best! ^-^

"This is a closet."

"Hehe." You heard something lock and your mind told you to panic, the spider was weaving you into her web.

But you didn't. You stayed cool, calm, and collected. 

"What do you want?" Your eyes squinted through the dark. Your shades sure weren't helping, but there was no way you would take them off.

"Oh, nothing. Just a chance to hang out with the famous Dave Strider." You could hear her shuffling.

 "Just what the fuck were you getting at, Serket?"

"Oh, nothing." Vriska kept using that sarcastic, patronizing voice that everyone adored her for, but you had grown to dread; fear even. Before you could react, you heard several clicks. Lights flashed in your face and your shades were gone.

"Y-You're a fucking demon!" She took a fearful step backwards, clutching your shades in her tight grip. You could see her knuckles turning white and her face paled.

You sighed. "Can we skip the drama and get to the part where I get my shades back and you leave?" 

"Hell no! Hell fucking no!" Vriska took out her phone and flashed a picture of your eyes before you could look away.

"Now the whole world's gonna know that their little 'idol' is a demon sent from the dark abyss of hell!" She spat. You felt something in your stomach sink, and your eyes widened.

You snatched your shades from her hand and tried to grab her phone.

"No, Vriska, please! 

"No fucking way!" She held it out of your reach, keeping it just the perfect distance away that you could see what was on the screen.

 No, no, no, it was like a bad nightmare, you couldn't think about it anymore. You just wanted to disappear as she hit 'send'. Your heart sank further and further.

 Vriska snorted in her posh way and left you in the closet, alone and absolutely defeated. You knew you shouldn't have trusted her. You couldn't do this anymore. Everyone would know. Everyone already knows, you knew how fast things spread on social media.

 Your life and career as a musician were over, Dexterity Bliss would get disbanded. You would change your name. You would move somewhere new, and get a fresh start. No one would have to know any of this ever happened.

 ===========================

 Your name is Kurloz Makara. What was there to say? Nothing. You're mute, you've been a mute. Honestly, you didn't mind. It didn't interfere with what you loved, playing music.

 You knew Dave's secret, you've always known his secret. His eyes... you could kill for eyes like those. You would under a hypnotic spell. Of course, his eyes weren't actually magical, just a deep blood red colour. He hated them, but you adored them. He would probably kill himself if anyone else found out

You got a notification from Twitter, and pulled out your phone, looking at it. You could feel your heart stop-- Vriska found out. In the picture, Dave squinted slightly, but the two blood red circles surrounded in white were very clearly visible. His hand looked as if it were reaching up to cover his face, but the rest was blurry.

Oh shit.


	12. Covering your Tracks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE LONG HIATUS WAS SHIT I'M SO SORRY HERE'S AN UPDATE AS COMPENSATION (poor compensation and short-as-hell but deal with it)

Your name is John Egbert... and you had just seen something that blew your mind.

All of your friends were spamming you with a single message, though it was worded differently each time.

_"JOHN CHECK YOUR TWITTER"_

_"TWITTER"_

_"CHECK YOUR FUCKING TWITTER OMG"_

_"JOHNNNNN"_

And you had... you hadn't expected to see this.

**_Vriska Serket (@arachnidsGrip)_ **   
**_tweeted a picture._**

**_'OMG guys check this out! @turntechGodhead'_ **

 

He looked... shocked, as if he didn't know the picture was being taken. His shades were off, and his arm was blurry in an attempt to shield his squinted eyes from the camera lense... though that was a failed attempt.

His eyes were... red?! Holy shit! That's so cool! You've never hit retweet faster in your  _life_.

You responded with the caption,  _"is this real??"_

There were a plethora of responses almost instantaneously, some saying yes, and some saying he was wearing contacts or it was photo-shopped. You chose to believe it was real. I mean, it was so cool! Who  _wouldn't_ want their idol to have cool eyes?!

====================

You're Dave Strider again. When wouldn't you be Dave Strider? ~~When the point of view switches.~~

You sucked in a deep breath and stormed out of the closet, flipping your hood up. You were absolutely certain every fan of yours would be looking for you right now, you walked fast. You weren't taking chances.

The hail hit you consistently, you tried to stay under the awnings of the buildings nearby, the hail was big. Little smaller than a golf ball. You sure hoped this would clear up soon, because if it didn't, you would have to cancel the concert and possibly lose some fans. You had bigger things on your mind, though.

A party store was about a block away. That's where you were headed.

It was almost empty-- almost. There was a cashier and a few people mulling around. You stormed through to the very back of the store, it was nowhere near Halloween so the Halloween decorations were in the back. You grabbed a box quickly, a few people murmuring at your haste, going to the cashier quickly and practically slamming it down, handing the cashier a twenty. He sure took his sweet time ringing up your purchase and getting your change. You tapped your fingers on the counter rapidly, rhythmically. Mister slow-as-fuck Cashier opened up a bag and you told him you were fine without the bag, grabbing your change and box and heading out again.

Your time was almost up, if you didn't do something quick you were done for.

The coffee shop next door-- yes, the same one from earlier-- was your next stop, you sat down in a chair in the very corner. It was completely abandoned except for the barista, who payed no attention to you. You tore open the box, and put green contacts in your eyes, taking a quick selfie and thinking of a clever caption to put on twitter.

**_Dave Strider (_ _@turntechGodhead)  
tweeted a picture._**

**_'@arachnidsGrip fuck you, serket, your editing skills are terrible.'_ **

Retweet.

Retweet.

Retweet.

The retweets flowed in quickly yet steadily and you let out a big sigh of relief. You slipped your shades on carefully and looked at the comments. People seemed to buy that it was an edit, and laughed at the caption. Some were screaming at other people that they _knew_ it was an edit, they just  _knew_ it! You smirked at your phone.

Not today, spider bitch.


	13. Unlucky

**_There is no chapter 13. 13 is unlucky._ **

~~Nah, you get a chapter later. Whoop whoop.~~


	14. Deviant Disappointment's Discoveries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You hadn't expected your encounter to be so... awkward, per se.

Your name is Vriska Serket, and your "clever" plan was a complete and utter failure.

You wanted to snap your phone in half, it was a real temptation that was there. You didn't, though, saving the life of your top-of-the-line phone. Your hands shook as you gripped the case. How the _fuck_ did he do that? You saw them, his red eyes were red, they were _real_ , you _knew_ they were. They had to be.

Unless he was planning this thing the whole time. Unless he knew.

You brushed those thoughts away, you didn't care if he was tricking you. _You know what you saw, and you weren't going to back down on it now._

You shoved your phone in your pocket and opened up your umbrella, heading out in the rain. You didn't care about the hail anymore, even though there were several loud, muffled _thud_ s on your umbrella. You growled to yourself. **You had business to attend to.**

====================

You are now John Egbert, and slightly discouraged by the new development on Dave's eyes. You were already beginning to sketch out some red clothing to go with his eyes-- a suit made out of felt, a red outfit with a gear on it... They were looking pretty cool. You tore the paper out of your sketchbook gently and crumpled it up, tossing it into the wastebin across the room.You missed by a few centimeters, bouncing off the side and landing in a small pile of other crumpled up papers-- failed art.

You put your earbuds into your ears, closing your eyes and sighing quietly. It was actually pretty disappointing on your part, the mystery behind Dave's shades were gone, and it wasn't even anything noteworthy. You wondered what would be happening on Tumblr at that moment, now that peoples' theories were disproved and trashed. That ought to be fun to watch.

Your finger hovered over the app. You sighed and turned your phone off, deciding not to go on Tumblr. You don't know why, but for some reason, you just weren't feeling up to the craziness of the internet right now.

=====================

Well, now you're Dave Strider, and you apologize for all of the POV changes.

What? You didn't say that? That's the incorrect POV, you have no omnipotence, and no knowledge of changes in POV. You have absolutely no idea that this is a book, nor will you ever know that. You stay in your own POV, and you will _never_ be in anyone else's POV. _**ever**_.

What? That didn't happen? _Damn straight it didn't._

You just left the contacts in, slipping your shades on over them. _Just in case,_ you thought to yourself. The hail had slowed, and the size was definitely smaller, so you just walked with your hood up. Several hail hit you repetitively, and you sucessfully ignored it until you got back to the tour bus. Everyone else was just chilling in the van-- Terezi and Karkat were playing cards, and Kurloz was listening to music on his own. You flung your body into one of the chairs and sighed, leaning back. As soon as you did this, all three (nearly simultaneously) looked up at you. You stared out the window, but you could still feel their gaze on you.

"Hey, Dave." Terezi said nonchalantly, but you could hear the slight bit of concern in her voice. You responded with a half hearted _Hey._

An awkward silence followed as your single _hey_ hung in the air. Karkat broke the silence.

"Listen, w-"

You didn't give Karkat the chance to finish his word, even, before you stood up abruptly, starting to walk towards the back of the bus, where another small room was.

Karkat tried again. "Are you oka-"

"I'm fine." You said, a bit too rushed. You took a deep breath and repeated, slower and more measuredly, "I'm _fine_." You couldn't keep the venom out of your words, so you just left for the other room. You don't know what you expected from the encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short lil shorty short chapter for yer troubles (/OwO)/


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blah

It's been several months since the tour, now... it went by relatively uneventfully after Vriska's... whatever it was Vriska did.

You just sighed and looked out the window of your apartment, watching all the people go by below. To and fro, wherever they were going, and wherever they were coming from. It was almost... philosophical what you could think of when alone.

Karkat and Terezi had started dating again after the tour, but had a falling out, and things have been rather... _tense_ at practices. The plan was to release a new album next month, but Karkat seemed against the idea for some reason. He didn't outright say that he didn't want to release any new songs... but he definitely didn't oppose to the idea, and dodged the question when asked about it.

Kurloz was the only one who hasn't changed. Same skeleton-themed outfits, same quiet ways, same everything... except that he... tended to disappear at random times now. No one knows where he goes, and he just gives a shrug and smile when you try to ask where he's been.

You even admit that you, yourself, have changed since the tour.

You sighed and closed your eyes, moving away from the window. Eternal Apathy's popularity was beginning to soar to new heights as their fanbase grew and grew, and Dexterity Bliss? ...You were thinking about disbanding.

It wasn't official yet, but you had talked about it. Terezi said she wanted the band to stay together, but who knows what that unidentifiable tone to her voice was?

You walked over to the kitchen and took a bag of Doritos from the cabinet, one of those snack-sized ones(though you could fairly easily down a family size bag in one sitting). You hopped over the back of the couch and bounced for a moment before settling down, sighing to yourself. The TV had been on, playing some show on Comedy Central.  _Mindless entertainment,_ you thought,  _cool._

You had just began to doze off when you heard a knock on the door.

Who could that be?

***~*~Vote now on your phones!~*~***

***various beeping noises***

***~*~The votes have been casted!~*~***

You slowly opened the door and came face to face with...

Nobody. There was nobody at the door, and the hallways were empty. Not even the echoes of footsteps could be heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!
> 
> Short little chapter but O H MY GO D I T HA S BE E N A BU SY WE E K FO R ME
> 
> Did I say week? I mean life. w/e, I have no excuse for not upd8ing that I haven't already used, so........ here? *tentatively tosses chapter at you through computer screen* Have some kind-of-feels
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> #Kind of feels #but also not really #because nothing actually happened yet #well I mean OBVIOUSLY something's coming #because you know how it is when people go on hiatus #or are just really lazy #if you read this comment if you're a large sweatshirt person or an oversized flannel person #I'm both tbh it depends


	16. Performance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi gains some self-confidence, and Dave loses hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyyyyy fam
> 
> so I know I said regular updates (or something along those lines)
> 
> but like they're not gonna be regular, just kind of whenever? but there won't be a HUGE pause between chapters anymore, or not too huge at least.
> 
> so here you go ^^ enjoy!

Dexterity Bliss was supposed to have a gig that night at some bar off the freeway. Dave sat backstage, tapping his foot anxiously against the ground as he crossed his arms. He was pretty pissed-- they went on in five minutes, and he was the only one there.

Kurloz and Karkat were MIA, and not responding to his messages and calls. Terezi said she was on her way an hour ago, it shouldn't be that hard to make your way to the small joint, even a blind girl should be able to get there without much trouble.

Dave just growled slightly, checking his phone.

Terezi burst in, swinging her cane haphazardly as she did so.

"Hey, TZ." Dave greeted, fixing his shades as he continued to tap his foot. As anxious and mad as he was, he wasn't going to let it show-- he was too cool that.

"Hey." Terezi responded, taking a seat next to Dave. "Karkat said he couldn't make it, he had some issues to take care of."

"And he didn't tell me?" Dave mumbled to himself, but just loud enough for the blind redhead to hear.

"Don't worry about him, we can wi--"

"We can't wing it, TZ, he's our fucking drummer." Dave gritted his teeth and glared over at the other. Even though she couldn't see his death look, she could definitely feel it, shrinking down slightly.

"Jeez, sorry for trying to be an optimist." It was now three minutes until they were supposed to go on, and Kurloz was still MIA. He hadn't even been responding to Dave's text messages. He sent another one, just in case.

"One minute until show time," the stage manager peeked his head in, warning the two. Dave grumbled and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Terezi asked, standing up.

"I'm bailing," Dave said simply. "If nobody else has the decency to show, why bother. It's not a band without the drummer, just some stupid assholes trying to make a living off of bass and guitar."

"Wait! No! don't go!" Terezi grabbed the wrist of the other, listening intently for audio cues. Dave stopped walking and shifted slightly, and the two of them just stood there.

"Why shouldn't I leave now," The blonde stated slowly and quietly.

"Because... we promised them a show. We have to... we have to..." Terezi trailed off, her grip on Dave's wrist slacking. He pulled away and left the room, taking his things with him.

"..."

"Um... Ms. Pyrope?" She shifted slightly to face the voice of what she assumed was the manager. "It's time to go on."

Terezi blinked back tears and bit her lip, swinging her case over her back. The show must go on.

She made her way on stage, listening to the echo of her footsteps as she approached the mic. Anxiety welled up in her chest as her mind blanked in front of the mic, this was why she never sung. Terezi had issues with performing alone, and could never sing in front of people. But she'd have to try, she couldn't let these people down.

"Um," Her voice cracked immediately, and she coughed, clearing her throat. It didn't sound like a big crowd, but who knew. "The rest of the band couldn't make it tonight, so, uh, I guess I'll sing something."

She could feel the spotlight burning a hole through her as she hooked up her bass, the silence of the crowd echoing through her mind.

Terezi wiped her palms on her pants. They were sweating like mad. She gripped her bass almost too tightly, and played a test chord, taking a deep breath. She began to play, fingers slipping on the chords slightly. She grimaced, but continued trucking on. Just imagine you're in your room, practicing, she told herself.

"I'm gonna fight 'em off," Her slightly raspy voice helped add tone to the lyrics, and she was surprised to hear herself playing and sounding wonderful. She began to have more confidence in herself. "A seven nation army couldn't hold me back."

"They're gonna rip it off, taking their time right behind my back." Her fingers seemed to move of their own accord as she began to focus on her lyrics, closing her useless eyes as she sang.

"And I'm talking to myself at night because I can't forget." Move your fingers across the notes, tap your foot to keep time. "Back and forth through my mind behind a cigarette."

Change the pattern. "And the message coming from my eyes says 'leave it alone.'"

The entire crowd began to sort of disappear as Terezi imagined herself just playing by herself, she was alone and in her room, the rest of the song flawlessly executed for nobody but herself. She struck the final note, breathing out a sigh of relief as she was pulled back to Earth by the thundering applause of the audience. Her cheeks heated up as a smile spread across her face, she was no longer nervous, waving out to the audience and laughing her trademark laugh, soaking up all the praise. She loved this feeling of appraisal, bowing as the crowd chanted for an encore.


	17. C'est La Vie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shocking revelation sends the band into a downward spiral.
> 
> How's John, by the way?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayy fam I told ya it wouldn't be that long 'till the next upd8

"What the hell was that!" Terezi practically screamed at a quiet Dave. His mind was racing, and his heart was pounding, but he was calm on the exterior. "You totally abandoned me!"

"And you two!" Now her anger was directed at Kurloz and Karkat. However quiet they might be, she knew they were there, she hadn't heard them leave the band's meeting yet. "Kurloz! You didn't even  _respond_ to  _anything_ , what the hell was that all about?! I had to go improvise by myself! It was a disaster!"

"They loved you!" Karkat countered back with just as much force, standing up. "Why the hell are you complaining to  _us_?!"

"It scared the shit out of me! You know how I feel about being alone on stage!" Terezi growled, kicking the air and pacing the room.

"Oh, because pacing is going to be of  _so much fucking help_ to us!" Karkat spat, stepping in front of Terezi. She bumped into him and growled slightly, pushing him away. He pushed her back, and before anyone could process what was going on, the two were full-on brawling-- throwing punches, kicks, screaming and tearing each others' hair out. Kurloz tried to intervene, but just ended up getting a punch to the face. He held back Karkat, stepping between the two as Dave just watched. It took them a while, but they would calm down.

Which they did. Terezi was now broken down to tears, and Karkat was pouting and turning away from everyone. Dave stood, packing his things as two words tumbled from his lips that made everyone stop dead in their tracks and look at him.

"I quit."

"What the fuck!" Karkat was enraged. Dave was practically the backbone of the band, if he quit, the entire band would collapse in no time at all.

"I quit." Dave repeated, with just as much intensity as he had used earlier.

"You can't quit!" Terezi gasped, running over to Dave. Even Kurloz seemed to be signing words of protest.

"Do you all remember why we started Dexterity Bliss?" Dave said, turning towards the other three. They stopped in their tracks, looking down as they thought to themselves. "It was so that we can have fun. This was supposed to be fun, just a couple of teens- and Kurloz- starting up a run-of-the-mill rock band, trying to throw our passion into something that might someday make us famous. And you know what? We succeeded. But we're not having fun, we're just pulling our hair out as we slowly go insane, and what do we have to show for it? Some mediocre albums and a few dumbass fans?" Dave looked around the room of his silent friends and he just shook his head. "I'm done."

With those last words, he was gone, and the room was plagued with a silence that didn't seem to want to go away. Eventually, though unwillingly, the silence faded to white noise as the remaining members of the band formerly known as Dexterity Bliss began to pack their things. An unspoken agreement between the three said that there would be no more practices, no more gigs, concerts, or hangout sessions. Dexterity Bliss was over.

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

John felt something in his soul when he woke up-- he felt that today was not going to be a good day. His suspicions were only affirmed when his twitter greeted him with a nice, welcoming message.

 

**turntechgodhead**

@gallowscalibrator @carcinogenetecist @therealkurloz dexterity bliss is over


	18. It's Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -It's Over.- the various cast members thought to themselves.

_It's Over._  Vriska thought to herself with a sickly sweet smile on her blue lips. She decided that this would be the best way to gain publicity, so she began typing up a heartfelt tweet to express her true sorrow at the loss of another great band. Vriska knows it's not right. She knows it's not funny, but she'll stop beating this dead horse when it stops spitting out money.

 _It's Over._  John thought to himself with a small frown plaguing his otherwise happy expression. He wasn't ready for this. Tears began to well up in his eyes as he thought back to everything that had happened, how he first had gotten into Dexterity Bliss' music. It had saved him in a time of depression, and he was thankful for this.

 _It's Over._  Dave thought to himself with more of a grimace than anything. _No... It's never over._ He knew better-- Dave knew that as long as people remembered their music, and as long as the fangirls and fanboys continued to draw fanart, write fanfiction, create ideal scenarios in their head about the members of the band formerly known as Dexterity Bliss, it would never be over. As long as the internet lived on, the band would live on, even if they stopped creating new music, this world will live on.

 _It's Over._  Terezi thought to herself, seating herself on her bed. She began to remember all of the fun times the band shared together. Road trips, jam sessions, and even just people to talk to when the rest of the world was acting like shit. Terezi wanted to scream. Not in a bad way, though-- just something about the whole thing made her giddy on the inside.  _It was a chance to start over._

 _It's Over._ Karkat thought to himself. He threw his drumstick at his drum set, suddenly despising the ironic logo for the band they had printed on it. He took some duct tape and began to cover it up, no reason to show that shitstain again. Maybe he'd go solo... or maybe he'd just wait for another opportunity to show its face again and he could jump on the next train to popularity.

 _It's Over._ Kurloz thought to himself. He was expecting this, he knew it would happen sooner or later. Turned out to be sooner. He had actually been preparing for this for quite a while now, pulling himself over to his computer and starting it up. Several videos of his original piano pieces littered his folder on his desktop, both old and new, and just waiting eagerly to be put up on the internet. Maybe he could finally do what he loved most.


End file.
